Tag : glass sculptures

Vaseline Glass, (also known as Uranium glass) is an extremely rare yellow-green colored glass that was very popular for a century or so, up until the 1920’s. The strikingly beautiful color also glows slightly under any ultraviolet light. As little as 0.1 to 0.2 percent of uranium dioxide is added to the formula of glass to give it the yellow-green tint, according to Vaseline Glass Collectors Inc.

This rare glass got the nickname “Vaseline” because of the resemblance of some pieces to the hue of Vaseline petroleum jelly, which is light yellow in color. One of the rare qualities of this glass is that the color of a piece can actually vary to the naked eye under different light sources.

One collector in Philadelphia built this beautiful Zen Garden around his Vaseline Box Buddha. When it’s lit up at night you can see it from Ben Franklin Bridge, miles away!

Marlene created a number of sculptures out of this unique glass until her supplier ran out. She’s been hunting for another source of supply of this amazing glass for at least a decade. When a loyal collector recently had a casualty with one of his Vaseline glass sculptures during a move he was heartbroken to learn she had no more of the glass.

This motivated Marlene to renew her hunt for a new source of Vaseline glass and thanks to some suggestions on Instagram (welcome to the Age of Social Media!) she was able to connect with a company that imports it from New Zealand and obtained enough for one run in the studio.

Once the replacement piece for her collector has been cast there will be a small amount of Vaseline glass left over, so look out for some stunning new works from Marlene in this rare and beautiful medium.